by 
Federal Courthouse, Fort Myers, Florida
For a long time now Safe Haven Baby Boxes Inc Inc has been waging a battle against traditional safe haven law advocates. This battle has been covered sporadically by media and I’ve mentioned it occasionally. Unless they follow SHBB Inc shenanigans online, though, most people, even adoptee rights and adoption reform advocates remain largely unaware of it, unless they’re looking for it.
Back in the days of yore, when Monica Kelsey, founder and director of SHBB Inc was the newbie on the block, she chummed it up with the National Safe Haven Alliance (NSHA) and other SH advocates. Until that is, she laid her safe haven baby abandonment box on their table. What happened next is the trad’s ‘story to tell, but Mrs Kelsey made an exit, one way or the other.
While the trads remain professional and don’t much publicly criticize her utopian box scheme, Mrs. Kelsey, incredulous that she’s on the outside looking in, frequently attacks them with accusations that trads (1)are jealous of her success; (2) afraid of losing funds–especially public funds that some non-profit organizations receive; (3) don’t understand baby abandonment (!); (4) are out of touch with “the movement;” (5) prefer “desperate mothers” make a normal adoption plan than use an anonymous baby box” and (6) are “detached from reality.” It’s not unusual for members of her fanbase to accuse trads of “wanting more dead babies.”
For some time now, Mrs. Kelsey and her crew have shown particular animus toward Nick Silverio, founder and director of Florida’s pioneer A Safe Haven for Newborns/Gloria M Silverio Foundation, (not a NSHA member), especially since the Florida legislature has rejected the enactment of several bills that would have legalized baby boxes in the state. (Florida is a home rule state which means that under certain circumstances municipalities can install their own boxes without a law, but obviously, a state law is more attractive and workable than piecemeal ops in Fishcamp, Florida.) Mr. Silverio has, in fact, worked tirelessly to stop box growth over the years, but has done nothing out of the ordinary; nothing unethical or illegal; nothing that good opposition doesn’t do. Mr. Silverio has a high social credit rating, unlike the Indiana carpetbaggers.
The biggest blow to Mrs. Kelsey’s various legislative campaigns came in 2021 when Sen. Dennis Baxley, a long-time baby box advocate, without notice, wrote out all baby box language in the shoe-in safe haven amendment bill he sponsored. We were as shell-shocked as Mrs. Kelsey, and have no idea what happened outside of some unknown deal being cut. Welcome to Politics 101!
(See the SSHBBN Florida page for legislative and news history. We have a dandy video of an SHBB attack on trads, but are posting it later in a separate blog. SHBB Inc is afraid to chew on adopted people because we bite back.)
Late last year Mrs. Kelsey began making sounds on social media about a new SHBB bill being introduced in Florida this session. Nothing happened and the deadline for new bills was January 9, so it’s a done deal unless a SHBB bill is written into another bill and snuck through. That is exactly how the original safe haven and baby box bills got through the Ohio legislature. We are watching.
On January 16, Mrs. Kelsey/SHBB Inc filed suit in the US District Court, Middle District of Florida, Fort Myers Division against Mr. Silverio, his organization, Amy Bollen, and the South Trail Fire & Rescue District where Ms Bollen is Director of Public Relations. The lawsuit is here.
SHFN/Silverio/Bollen/Fire District are being sued for Defamation (Libel); SHFN/Silverio for Defamation (Slander); Bollen for Libel Per Se; and SHFN/Silverio/Bolen for tortious interference with a contract or business relationship. According to Florida law, this means that they are accused of exposing a person “to distrust, hatred, contempt, ridicule, or obloquy which causes such person to be avoided or has a tendency to insure such person in his office, occupation, business or employment.” (Case No:: 2:26-CV-51-JBL-KCD)
Their crime: attempting to dissuade various fire departments from installing Safe Haven Baby Boxes. One of the complaints, believe it or not, is that the defendants claimed that the “devices” cost $16,000 each, which is absolutely true.
This suit seems to be based on Mrs. Kelsey’ successful suit against Mike and Jean Morrisey, founders of the notorious outlier Baby Safe Haven New England –a suit that she rightly won. As someone harassed by Morrisey for over 20 years (seriously!) I supported the suit. No one should be subjected to the ugly accusations and harassment that Morrisey poured on Mrs. Kelsey. There is absolutely no comparison, however, between the vicious treatment Mrs Kelsey was subjected to by Morrisey and the simple efforts by Mr. SIlverio and Ms. Bollen to explain the ethical and practical problems with baby boxes to fire departments. I know of one other baby box critic threatened with legal action. He told her to buzz off, and I believe that’s as far as it went.
We will publish legal comments on this ridiculous lawsuit shortly and also related news as it shows up.
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